|
twenty-one. A vote No is a vote against
the amendment in favor of age nineteen.
Cast your vote.
Has every delegate voted?
Does any delegate desire to change his
vote?
(T lic re was no response.)
The Clerk will record the vote.
There being; 49 votes in the affirmative
and 79 in the negative, the motion fails.
The amendment is rejected.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Do I understand
now, Mr. Chairman, that the Committee
Recommendation, section 1, reading, "every
citizen who attains the age of nineteen," is
before us?
THE CHAIRMAN: It is.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Is it now open
to amendment?
THE CHAIRMAN: It is.
DELEGATE CARDIN: I should like to
offer amendment R.
THE CHAIRMAN: The pages will
please distribute amendment R. This will
be Amendment No. 2.
The Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 2
to Committee Recommendation No. S&E-2
by Delegate Cardin: on page 1 section 1,
Eligible Voters in Federal, State and
County Elections, in line 9 strike out the
word "nineteen" and insert in lieu thereof
the word "twenty".
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
offered by Delegate Cardin.
Is there a second?
(Whereupon, flic -motion was -seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
seconded.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Cardin to
speak to the Amendment.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
The arguments for lowering the voting
age need not be reconstructed. You know
what they are. All of you know the validity
of them or the invalidity of them.
I offer this amendment because in all
sincerity I believe that the legislature will
|
in a very short time consider lowering the
age of majority to the voting age. I state
that because there are members of the
present Senate and House who sit as dele-
gates among us who have concurred that
they will, if a lower voting age appears in
the constitution, bring this matter to the
legislature at the next session.
I can refer to the testimony of Senator
Staten and Delegate Abramson before our
Committee when they were questioned on
lowering the voting age, whether they
would vote to lower the age of majority.
They said they would because they felt
that full adult legal responsibility should
be placed along with the mantle of suffrage.
I would just like to give you two brief
quotations from two newspapers in the
Baltimore area. The News American which
stated, "The affirmation of confidence of
responsibility of today's youth is one that
will be incurred if we lower the voting age,
not just responsibility in suffrage, but total
responsibility". The Sunpapers of October
1 said, "If the Convention lowers the voting
age, it should be a matter of public policy,
of youthful responsibility, not an exercise
in mathematics".
I offer this amendment fully appreciating
the fact that you do want to lower the
voting ag-e, but suggesting1 that you lower
it to an ag-e to which the age of majority
can be lowered without impeding or
placing any unnecessary hardship on the
youngsters who at nineteen may not be
ready to assume all the responsibilities you
are heaping on them.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Ross.
DELEGATE ROSS: Mr. Chairman and
fellow delegates: First of all, let me tell
you that one of the factors that I think
had a part in the majority's decision as
far as the voting ag-e is concerned was the
fact that the age group between twenty-
one and twenty-four, has such a poor
voting record. One of the reasons why,
I suppose, this happens is that at that
point people are somewhat mobile and, in
addition, the problems of career and
family-starting responsibility take priority.
If we want to establish a habit of voting soon after our civic education, which you
have heard a great deal about, it seems to
the majority of the Committee that you
should set it at the lowest age you can
where you feel the vote could be respon-
sibly cast. For this reason, we did consider
twenty and the majority of the Committee
decided on nineteen.
|
